By Flowmaster:Here's a tutorial on how to completely disassemble and reassemble a Heritage Rough Rider 22LR or 22 magnum. What you see here is the way I did it. There may also be other ways to do this job. What you do with your gun is your problem. Treat this write up as entertainment, not a guide.

Why would I do such a thing? I wanted to familiarize myself with the gun because I will be Duracoating it at some point in the future. The silver finish that came on my gun has not held up well at all. I will be sandblasting parts of the gun and applying Duracoat with an airbrush sometime soon. I just wanted to know how to take it apart and get it back together. There is a write up on the gunslinger forum, but the pictures are really lacking. I did not feel comfortable taking my gun all the way apart after looking at the write up over there, so I decided to just dive into it and make a write up so others can see how easy it really is. I was completely intimidated by this gun to begin with, thinking I'd never really take it apart because it would probably wind up being a can of worms. In reality, the design is pretty simple and makes sense.Here is the subject gun, a Heritage Rough Rider 22LR/22 magnum. For this project I used two flat screwdrivers (having two of them is really important for one step), a hammer, and a small punch. The gun can be completely disassembled aside from the firing pin using just the screwdrivers. First, make sure the gun is empty. Pull the cylinder out of the gun and set it aside. I didn’t remove the cylinder as my first step, but it’s a good idea. Then remove the grips. One single screw attaches both grips. The screw goes through one grip and screws into the other grip, sandwiching the grip frame. Here are the 5 screws that attach the grip frame to the receiver. It really doesn’t matter the order in which you remove these screws, but there will be some spring tension from the main spring that is trying to force the grip frame away from the receiver. Use your hand to hold the grip frame and receiver together while you’re taking out the 5 screws. Speaking of screws, 4 of them are identical. The screw that’s forward of the trigger is much smaller and has a different head on it. Be mindful of that one screw, because it needs to go back in that location later. With the grip frame and receiver apart, there is a coil spring which holds in the loading gate. This will just slide out. With the spring out of the way, the loading gate just pulls out. There is also a small metal plunger that goes with the loading gate. The plunger will likely hang up inside the receiver, but it’ll eventually fall out. Flipping over the receiver, you’ll see a spring for the trigger. This comes out with one small flat screw. When I got my gun (brand new) the screw head was already a bit torn up. I guess who ever assembled my gun at the factory didn’t use the right screwdriver or did it too tight or something. The picture shows the spring and also the spring removed. Next, the trigger comes out. There is one screw that retains the trigger and cylinder stop. The trigger just comes out of the bottom of the receiver. This is how the trigger and cylinder stop go together inside the receiver. The hammer is held in place with one screw. With the screw removed, the hammer will slide out the bottom of the receiver through a slot that’s milled into the receiver. The safety comes out next. Put the safety in the halfway position between safe and fire, and then slide it out of the side of the gun. It is important to have it in the halfway position so it will clear the plunger inside the receiver. Inside the receiver are a plunger and a spring. The firing pin on this gun threw a curveball. I couldn’t get it out. I removed the pin underneath the rear sight and the firing pin didn’t just fall out. It appears that the firing pin may be pressed in or something. The parts are available through Heritage, but mine didn’t come out when the pin was removed. There is a “cup” that rests against the shell casing, a small coil spring, and the firing pin itself in that sub assembly.The ejector rod comes out next, using a single screw. The picture shows how the ejector rod and spring go inside the housing. The base pin is the last thing to come out of the receiver. This is why you need two screwdrivers. One flat screwdriver goes on one side and the other flat screwdriver goes on the other side. This part unscrews. There may be some sort of a thread sealer compound on the screw threads. There were on mine. This is the receiver taken all the way down. I did not remove the front sight or the barrel. I could not determine if the barrel is pressed into the frame or if it is screwed in place. Either way, I didn’t mess with it. The front sight is a flat metal disc that is glued into a slot in the frame. There’s no practical way to get that out without damaging the sight or the barrel, so I left it.

OK, time to get this back together. I took fewer pictures of the reassembly process. It was getting late, I was getting tired. There are many ways to put it back together, this is just the sequence I used.The hammer slides up along that groove inside the receiver and is held in place with the screw. The cylinder stop and trigger go in with a single screw. The picture shows how the trigger and cylinder stop go together up into the frame.The leaf spring for the trigger is next. It only goes one way. That screw can be tricky.Put the loading gate back into its place, then put the plunger into the receiver. After that, install the spring for the loading gate. You can then hold the grip frame against the receiver to relieve the tension of the main spring trying to force the grip frame and receiver apart. Remember that 1 screw that was different from the others? That one goes in front of the trigger. Remember to hold the grip frame against the receiver to avoid stripping out any of the screw holes. The grips can go on now too.I put back the pin that’s supposed to hold the firing pin in place. The ejector assembly goes in place with a single screw. The picture shows the orientation of the rod, housing, and spring. The safety goes back in place in the halfway position between safe and fire. The spring goes into the frame first, then the plunger. It can be sort of tricky to get this to line up. Put the gun and the parts inside a big ziplock bag. You can work on it with your hands inside the bag, but the spring and plunger won’t go flying if you don’t get it the first time. The plastic bag will catch the parts and save you a whole bunch of time.I didn’t get a picture of the base pin reinstallation. That takes 2 hands. I held the receiver between my knees and used a screwdriver in each hand to screw the base pin parts together. Put in the cylinder and the gun is all back together. Check for proper trigger/hammer function by pulling the hammer back slowly. Listen for 4 clicks. Check the cylinder for wobble when the hammer is all the way back. That’s it.

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